How many computers do you have sitting around? If you’re a geek, there’s a pretty good chance that you have a couple sitting around that you expect to use for this learning project or that learning project. Maybe put the latest Fedora on it. Or that beta of the latest Microsoft offering. We need systems and the easiest way to work with the technology is to have a few boxes sitting around to install it on, right?
Maybe not anymore. I’ve been playing around with virtualization lately and have really come to appreciate the flexibility it gives me. I’m certainly aware of virtualization’s inroads into industry — it’s becoming very mainstream there. But as a geek and trainer I also appreciate the power it gives me for self-education. No long do I have to punch the KVM to switch machines, I can mouse between systems. Since I’m focusing on keeping my primary workstations beefed up as much as possible, they make ideal virtualizations hosts.
I’m pleased that VMware now makes Server free. I found it pretty easy to set up and configure, especially for *NIX flavors. It’s biggest downside is you need to be a little more familiar with it to have the power to it offers.
Microsoft’s Virtual Server I found to be very finicky. By setting it up as its own userID, I was able to get it running in a reasonably stable manner. None the less, it was harder and more time consuming to use than VMware Server.
Easiest to use so far has been Virtual PC. While I expected it to have much less functionality then Virtual Server, it’s ease and speed of setup actually makes it the more practical product. While Virtual PC claims to support *NIX systems, I have not tried that yet. One feature Virtual PC has that I really like is the ability to build a system from the ISO image rather than a physical CD. Since I get all my OS images by ISO, this is a real convenience.
I have not worked with either Microsoft’s Steady State nor VMware’s Workstation edition. I plan to and will let you know my reactions then.
If you haven’t already tried virtualization for your home system, I’d recommend it. It’s a great way to have a “safe surfing” system. One of my pet peeves is the number of programs and web sites that assume the user runs a browser with no restrictions. Now I can. Once I’m finished with the #$*%^$##$ incompetent webmaster, I can blow-away the virtual machine and replace it from my base image with minimal work.